Professional Thieves

Everyday their are people who go into grocery stores or supermarkets and pocket some food, or makeup, even jewelry. There are others who hold up a gas station with a pistol and maybe steal a thousand dollars if their lucky. These people I'm referring to would be considered novice thieves; ammeters. They lack the efficiency and knowledge a professional criminal has. Now when I say professional I mean someone who does this for a living, its their job essentially. 

Traits of a Professional thief:

-Patient, wait for the perfect opportunity, case out the place they are going to hit. 

-They have a specific skill set; pick locks, hack security systems, get away driver etc..

-Usually work in groups, one or two work as distractions or look outs.

-They have a plan of entry and escape. 

-Usually have inside information about where they are going to steal from.

-Good criminals have fences or people to sell what they stole too.

A great example of "Professional Criminals" would be all the members of the Bling Ring. If you don't already know this was a group of teenagers and young adults who went around the Hollywood area and burgled the homes of several celebrities. It was believed that this group stole upwards of 3$ million in just under a year' things stolen included large amounts of jewelry, clothes, and cosmetics. Most of the items stolen were from Paris Hilton who's house was hit numerous times. 

Auto theft in Canada

        When thinking of Auto Theft many people go directly to "Grand Theft Auto" video games, or the "Fast and Furious" movie series, a more glorified rendition of the kinds of auto crime that happen everyday. Now don't get me wrong there are many cases of professional organized car thieves that steal expensive as well as mass production cars. These people take cars and either strip them down for parts for resale, or re-VIN the vehicles and ship them to other continents such as Asia, and Europe. BUT the truth is, most auto theft can be is preformed by amateur criminals. They could be Joyriding, or possibly using the car for quick transportation, maybe stealing the car in order to commit another crime. Twenty eight percent of auto crime can be directly related to joyriders according to police. On average about four hundred cars are stolen a day in Canada, costing victims collectively about one point two billion dollars a year.

   

        The number one stolen car in Canada as determined by the Insurance Bureau of  Canada was the Toyota Venza, number two was the Honda Civic, and three was the Ford F350. When you first take a look at this list it doesn't look very impressive. I mean there are some nice Fords, but Chevy is the way to go, and a Toyota Venza isn't necessarily a "ballin ass ride." But all three of these vehicles are produced in large quantities, and many generic colors. If you look at a Honda Civic I'm pretty sure you have seen one driving around your town or city. They are a common car that are produced in large numbers, and this makes it easier for someone to steal and use or resell these types of cars. Even just changing the plates could alter the care enough to not be found by police or previous owners. If you live in a highly populated city, where there are bound to be bad neighbor hoods in, your car might be at risk of being stolen. If you are a thief in a large city there is also a better chance of you not being caught because of the number of other vehicles and the less chance you have of running into the person who;s car you stole. Cities like Regina, Vancouver, Montreal, and Kelowna, have large numbers of people and vehicles which can lead to higher rates of theft. Also places like Winnipeg, and Kelowna have spread out populations which indicate more cars because you need to drive 5 kilometers to get to the nearest gas station.

        There are many ways for people to help avoid getting their car stolen. First off lock your doors! I know its a simple thing that people do all the time, but the truth is large numbers of cars stolen are cars that were not locked. Another thing is to not leave expensive items in plain sight because someone will smash your window and just take that $&*#@. You should leave your car parked in a well lit area where lots of people can see it, this may deter a thief from stealing your car. Car theft is becoming more of an issue in Canada and with more people purchasing cars, more thieves will be out looking to get your stuff , so hopefully you protect it properly.